FUNERAL ORATION by Pei te Hurinui Jones At Okoki Pa before the service for the interment of the ashes of Sir Peter Buck (Te Rangihiroa) and the unveiling of the Memorial on Sunday, 8th August, 1954. Ki te reo o matou tupuna, ko Te Rangihiroa kua hokimai inaianei ki tona u-kai-po. Ko Te Rangihiroa kua noho tahi i tenei wa ki ona matua me ona hoa i roto i te wharekura i Matangi-reia i te Rangi Tua-ngahuru-marua o ona tupuna onamata. I a ia ka noho tahi ki a Timi Kara, ki a Maui Pomare, ki a Apirana Ngata me nga kai-arahi o te Iwi i ona ra he roa nga korero e korero ai a Te Rangihiroa. I roto i te wharerunanga o Io, i te marae o Te Rauroha; ara i roto i Whakamoe-ariki i Tikitiki-o-rangi he maha nga po e kore e moea i te korerotanga i tuhia ai e ia ki nga tuhi ataahua hei mea whakahirahira i roto i nga korero nunui o nga iwi o Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa. Kua tohungia tenei ra hei ra i whakatapua hei ra whai tikanga hoki i roto o nga tau whakamiharo, i nga tau whai hua, i nga tau whai kororia o Ta Te Rangihiroa. Na tenei ra i kawe mai ki te tuunga waewae o nga tupuna i Okoki nei nga tangata nunui o te Motu, a he honore nui he tohu whakatiketike hoki te taenga mai ki waenganui i a tatou o Te Kawana-Tianara ki te hura i te tohu i peka ke nei tona ahua me ona tohu whakamaharatanga e tu nei i tenei waahi ka tokoto nei nga pungarehu o tenei tangata rongonui. Kei te hoki i tenei wa nei o matou whakaaro mo Te Rangihiroa i tapae ake ai, i roto i nga honore huhua, i te taonga kanapanapa ara i te uru ona hei tangata tuturu i raro i nga ture o Amerika, puritia ana e ia a tae noa te mutunga ko tona piripono ki raro i te Karauna o Ingarangi. No reira ra matou e ora nei o matou ngakau ki te Kawana-Tianara mona i homai nei i te tohu whakanui ki te Iwi Maori me to ratou aitua nui a takoto nei, i a ia kua taemai nei i tenei ra hei mangai mo Kuini Irihapeti te Tuarua, te kuini manaaki e whakamoemititia nei. Ko nga whanaunga o Te Rangihiroa o roto i a Ngati Mutunga kua mama nga whakaaro kei te ora hoki nga ngakau ki tenei whakaminenga i hui mai nei i te mea ka riro mai ki o ratou ringa nga parapara tapu o tenei o ratou i whakawhiwhia nei ki nga honore maha a i whakanuia hoki e nga iwi nunui o te ao. I taurite ra ki ona ahuatanga i a Te Rangihiroa e ora ana i te mea kua hui mai nei nga mangai o nga iwi e rua ki tona toma ki te ata whakatakoto i ona pungarehu ki te taha i ona ake iwi o Ngati Mutunga i runga o Okoki In the words of our ancestors our kinsman, Te Rangihiroa, has returned to his u kai po, the breast which sustained and comforted him in the fretful night hours of his infancy. Te Rangihiroa is gathered to his fathers and with his comrades in Matangi-reia, the Temple of Fragrant Breezes, in the Twelfth Heaven of his Polynesian Valhalla. In the company of Timi Kara, Maui Pomare, Apirana Ngata and other contemporary leaders of the Race, Te Rangihiroa will have a long tale to tell. In the guest-house of Io, the Supreme Being, on the marae, the couryard of Te Rauroha, the Limitless Bounds of Space; in Whakamoe-ariki, the Sleeping-place of High Chiefs, in Tikitiki-o-rangi, the Topmost Heaven, many a night will pass unheeded as the story is told of a full rich life, which painted in brilliant colours and added lustre to the story of the peoples of Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa—the Great Ocean of Kiwa. This day marks a solemn and memorable occasion in the remarkable, eventful, and brilliant career of Sir Peter Buck. It has brought to the historic soil of Okoki the great ones of the land, and it is a great honour and the highest form of tribute to have His Excellency the Governor-General with us to unveil the unique and symbolic memorial which will mark the last resting-place of the ashes of a great man. We recall at this moment the fact that Te Rangihiroa could have had, among other honours, the glittering prize of United States citizenship, but he chose to remain to the end a loyal subject of the British Crown. We are, therefore, most grateful to His Excellency for honouring the Maori people and their illustrious dead by his presence here today as the representative of Her Most Gracious Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second. The Ngati Mutunga kinsmen of Te Rangihiroa are comforted and acknowledge with a thankful heart the gathering here at this hour to receive the mortal remains of one of their own who was showered with honours and received the plaudits of the great peoples of the world. It is in keeping with the life of Te Rangihiroa that representatives of both races should be gathered by his tomb to reverently place his ashes alongside his Ngati Mutunga tribespeople on Okoki—a place for ever hallowed in the stirring history of the Tokomaru